What Does a Realtor Do for a Buyer

When looking to purchase a home, it is important that homebuyers understand the question of what does a realtor do for a buyer. In answering this question it is important that first and foremost buyers find the right agent, which can be a tough task. There are a lot of realtors out there, so it can get confusing when you’re looking to find the right agent. Each realtor is different from the next one, however, when you find the right agent for you, you’ll know almost immediately so long as he or she is doing the following tasks.

1. Get you pre-approved:

The first thing that your agent will get you to do is get pre-approved for a mortgage by the bank. This way you will know how much you can spend on the home your looking to purchase. Without a pre-approval, imagine that you find the perfect home and now you want to put in an offer so you can purchase the property.

However, the place that you found is, let’s say $50,000 more than the bank will loan you. In this case, the situation wouldn’t have arisen in the first place had the agent just gotten the buyers pre-approved right away. With that, at least the buyers and their agent will have an idea of exactly how much they can actually spend.

This way you’ll know the maximum amount you can spend on a home. In the end, this will help alleviate the stress on the buyers, save them time and help them get straight to the topic at hand, which is finding the perfect home for them.

2. Help you through the Purchasing Process:

Finding the right home can be a trying process so it is important to understand the question of what does a realtor do for a buyer, especially if you haven’t purchased a property before. That is when having the right buyers agent with you can help. There is a lot of things that most homeowners are looking for in what they would call their “perfect home.” However, knowing what your “perfect home” is, is one thing, but finding the perfect place that matches all those qualities your looking for, can be a headache.

First, you need to look at what places are available on the market, then from there a ton of different factors take effect. Such as which location and neighborhood are they looking to purchase a home in? Do they have children? If so, does the home have schools located nearby?

That’s just a couple of examples. The point is, not everyone is looking for the same thing in a home. So all of these things, and more need to be taken into consideration when your agent is finding the right place for you. That is why good buyers will be asking you what you liked and disliked about each home they’ve shown you. This way it gives them a better understanding of what you’re looking for in a place.

3. Negotiate Offers & Fill out Contracts:

When understanding the question of what does a realtor do for a buyer, this may be one of the most important reasons why you as a buyer would need a realtor. Without an agent, you’d have to negotiate the purchasing price yourself and fill out the contracts to make sure they’re binding. Unless you’ve done that before it can be intimidating.

If you forget to fill out a certain part of the contract it might not even be legal anymore. An in terms of negotiating the purchasing price yourself, without any knowledge of what’s going on in the market, you might end up overpaying for a property not knowing that you bought the home for more than what it’s worth because you don’t know what you don’t know.

That means in certain instances most of us just don’t know certain things. Not for a lack of trying. Most of the general public isn’t educated on what’s going on in the market, so having someone that is a professional in the field and understanding of how to write up a legal contract is important. This way no legal troubles arise through the process.

4. Communicate with Sellers & Agent

Both sides need to be on the same page in order to make things work. That is why it is important that your agent is communicating with the seller’s agent, and his clients step by step through the process. This way everyone knows what’s going on in the transaction and nothing is coming up out of the blue because both sides are continuously keeping each other informed.

Making sure that you have an agent that’s doing this is vital. Without consistent communication, you might find a place that you really like and lose it to another family because their agent made sure he or she communicated properly to the sellers and their agent. You don’t want that to happen you, trust me, so make sure you find an agent that’s good at communicating right from the get-go, so you don’t run into any problems later on down the road.

5. Make Sure Everything is on Schedule

When you enter into certain contracts, such as the contract of purchase and sale, for example, you usually have a timeline by which you need to have everything filled out and sent. In cases like this, it is important that your agent is making sure that everything is completed and sent in by the allotted time.

This way the transaction continues to move along smoothly. If your agent isn’t checking in on the deadlines you could potentially lose your deposit and have the deal fall apart, all because your agent was too lazy to check the deadlines on the paperwork. That’s why it’s best you know right from the start, whether your agent is going to be doing this or not. This way at least you know from the beginning whether this agent is going to keep the transaction moving along smoothly, or stalling it due to their own ineptitude.

Final Thoughts:

So we hope this article answers the question of what does a realtor do for a buyer. Remember, as long as your agent is following the tasks listed above, you’ll know that there the right agent for you. You are making one of the biggest, if not the biggest, purchases of your life when buying a home. That is why it is important that you have an agent that is looking out for your best interests. He or she should be on top of everything, to the point where you don’t even have to ask if they’ve done such and such yet because you know that they have. That is when you know as a buyer, that you are in good hands.

We are an emerging team of real estate professionals with insightful information in the industry. In order to get a strategic evaluation on your home, contact Prestige Property Group today for a free consultation.